Environmental Education Speaker Series

Forage fish are a vital conduit of energy from lower trophic consumers and producers to higher level consumers like salmon, seabirds, and marine mammals. Recognition of the key role forage fish play in the Salish Sea ecosystem and their importance to salmon recovery and Southern Resident Killer Whale survival has helped to reignite interest in the health of this critical group of species in Washington.

Photo by John Scurlock

A presentation of selected black & white images of mountains and glaciers, representing eighteen years of aerial photography conducted in remote regions extending from California to the Northwest Territories, and from the Pacific Coast to Wyoming and the Canadian Rockies.  Included will be a brief discussion of glacier photography, as well as the technical aspects of "landscape photography" from the air.

The Living Snow Project is a community enabled science (aka "citizen science") program that engages the outdoor recreation community in science that is revealing impacts of climate change on biology in snowy alpine environments.

As we face the reality of caring for the future of our Earth in an era with increasing detachment from nature and the environment that sustains our lives, this will be a discussion, ideas, and some history about how a for-profit, capitalistic corporation can work for the benefit of the natural world, people and community; all while doing business in a sensitive environment, 100% off the grid in the snowiest place on Earth.

Brian will discuss the history of death care in America leading to the current environmental impacts of conventional burial and cremation practices. He will draw on over a decade of experience as a licensed funeral director and leader in the Green Burial Movement to explore established and emerging alternatives in death care that further environmental goals of reduced carbon emissions, ecological restoration, and landscape level conservation. Practices that can be both ecologically sound, and deeply meaningful, spiritually and emotionally.

Climate change is threatening the survival of Tonga and other South Pacific nations. It is causing sea level to rise, putting coastal communities at risk, and warming ocean temperatures, increasing the strength of cyclones/hurricanes. Cyclone Gita (2018), the strongest cyclone in history to make landfall on Tonga, caused significant damage.

Stories are critical to understanding and responding to climate change. On the one hand, our collective imaginations are shaped by dominant, inherited narrative conventions; as public climate stories rely almost entirely on large-scale, apocalyptic tropes, many people are uncertain how to respond to them in their everyday lives. On the other hand, stories can help us make shared emotional and relational sense of the complexity of large-scale ecological and social transformations.

Join us for a Town-Hall style conversation with Representative Debra Lekanoff prior to the 2020 legislative session which begins January 13^th. Rep. Lekanoff will discuss environmental, resource and climate progress as well as ongoing goals and challenges for the Salish Sea and Washington State.

For Winter Quarter 2020 Huxley College is collaborating with the Salish Sea Institute for the Huxley Speaker Series, with a focus on the Salish Sea.

                                            Photo by John Harper

This talk was CANCELED.

Bringing Life Back to our Beaches: The Resurgence of Coast Salish Sea Garden Stewardship & Cultivation Practices

DUE TO CAMPUS SNOW CLOSURE THIS TALK WAS CANCELED